Viikonloppu Kesämökillä (Weekend at the Summer Cottage)

Because it was still test week, I didn’t have to go to school on Friday. Among much “lollygagging” and procrastination, I researched for my paper on pesäpallo (Finnish baseball) that I am writing (in English) instead of writing the tests. Then I starting packing to go to the kesämökki, summer cottage; I brought way too much stuff, but had to prepare for the worst.

This is the kesämökki we stayed in.

It was a pretty short drive to the cabin and I was greeted by a nice log cabin which was on the tip of a peninsula on island near the city of Vaasa. There were five buildings: the main cabin, the storage shed and outhouse, the sauna, the eating room, and a bunkhouse. The main cabin had a kitchen (complete) the smallest stove/oven combo I have ever seen), a living room with a couch and cable TV, a dinning room, a bedroom, and a loft upstairs with some mattresses. For anyone who has visited my cabin (“The Shack”) in Sicamous, it was slightly smaller in footprint, had a lower ceiling, and was much more modern. The storage shed and outhouse building was naturally divided in two: a bathroom with plumbing, and a storage room. The sauna building was the original cabin on the property but it is now two rooms: the sauna with a wood burning kisua (the hot place with rocks), and a “powder room”. Behind the main cabin, a large terrace was built on top of some very large rocks which were almost the height of the cabin itself. On another larger rock right beside, there was a building with a single room which we utilized as the dinning room.

 

Me fishing with Siiri.

Iiro had been telling me for weeks how excited he was to be going fishing, so naturally that was one of the first things we did, as soon as Jarmo checked out the boat and put it in the water. It has been a long time since I have been fishing so it took a little time to get back into the swing of it. I actually caught a fish! A small pike! But as soon as I could see my prey, it jiggled loose of the hook. When we got back to shore, Jarmo’s brother Petteri and his family arrived. As soon as they were unpacked what did we do? We went fishing again. Later, when we were getting cozy, I walked up to the terrace and noticed Jaana having trouble lighting a fire, which would be used to cook our dinner. So being the scout that I am, I quickly got the fire lit (and it was probably a little bit bigger then what it should have been). We ate dinner, which was kebab (donair-ish meat) heated over my fire, very late, even for Canadian standards, at 9 o’clock. We cleared the table around 11 and then went to the sauna just before midnight. During and after saunas, Petteri and I cooled off by swimming in the sea. Because the Baltic Sea was once a huge fresh water lake, the salinity of the water was very low so I didn’t feel icky from the salt. After sauna, the adults and I played cards. I taught them how to play president (scum, a**hole) right after they taught me the Finnish version. 

This was the view from the dock at the cabin on Friday night.
(the little white dots are the moon and it's reflection)



The terrace and the "dining room".

I slept in on Saturday, as much as I could with 4 year old cousin Saila that is. After I had something to eat for breakfast, I read my book (Catch Me if you Can) in the sun on the terrace. Later in the day we went berry and mushroom picking in the woods near the cabin. For our late lunch, I made a salad after pestering for something to do. My salad had tommatti (tomato), paprika (bell pepper), kurkku (cucumber), ja omena (apple). After lunch we said goodbye to Petteri, his wife Sanna, and their daughter Saila, because their other son Sampo would soon arrive home from a hockey event. Konsta, their other son, stayed the next night with us. I had a long nap. When I awoke, the next guests, who were my host family’s friends from Seinäjoki, had arrived. We had our sauna before dinner. No swimming this time, it was really cold. After sauna we ate makkara for a late dinner and I went straight to bed.

Konsta and his catch.

Sunday morning, after sleeping in again, I resumed my position on the sunny terrace and finished my book. After the Seinäjokians (I don’t think that’s actually a word) left, we went fishing again. Jarmo caught one fish, which he released, and Konsta the cousin [ten years old, third grade, got his first cell phone when he was 7 which is normal by Finnish standards] caught three fish! But two of them released themselves before reaching the boat and he released the third after posing for pictures. When we docked, we did our final clean up and packing then left for home. I slept the whole drive home and had yet another sauna before going to bed.

It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend and I am very gracious I had the opportunity to experience yet another experience on this year long experience of a life time!

More blogs to come soon! I am still not getting any questions.... or mail for that matter, if you want to mail me something, let me know and I will forward you my address. (PS- make sure you make it clear who you are so I don't send my address to a random stranger)